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Scientists Target
Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter

Grape genes for resistance
to Pierce's disease are
the focus of some ARS
studies in Parlier,
California. (K5633-7)

Just as your home has pipes that move water into it, plants,
too, have their own plumbing systems. In plant tissue called xylem,
water and nutrients flow from roots to stems, branches, leaves, buds,
blooms, and fruit.

But just as household water pipes can clog, so can plants'
plumbing. Severe clogs can cause plants to weaken and die.

A half-inch-long leafhopping insect called the glassy-winged
sharpshooter can inadvertently plug plants' plumbing. When it shoves
its tubelike mouthparts into a plant to suck sap from the xylem, the
insect may transmit a deadly plant bacterium, Xylella fastidiosa,
in its saliva.

This microbe can live in the sharpshooter's gut without
harming the insect. But when Xylella moves from the sharpshooter
into a plant, the bacterium can form colonies or clusters that may eventually
shut off the flow of water.

The glassy-winged sharpshooter
is the culprit behind the
spread of Pierce's disease
among grapevines. The insect
infects the plant with the
bacterium Xylella fastidiosa
when it feeds on the sap from
the xylem tissue of a vine. (K10693-1)

The condition that X. fastidiosa
causes in grapevines is known as Pierce's disease. Southern California
winegrape vineyards got hammered with it in the 1990s soon after this
sharpshooter first appeared in the Golden State.

That work paved the way for new studies that may unlock
secrets about the complicated interaction between the insect, bacterium,
and vines. An example: the innovative investigations conducted by a
sharpshooter squad of scientists with the ARS Exotic and Invasive Diseases
and Pests Research Unit, Parlier, California.

"Wired" Takes on a New Meaning

A thin gold wire attached to a sharpshooter's back may enable scientists
to zero in on the minute-by-minute actions of the pest as it attacks
plants. "The wire carries a low-level electric current," explains
ARS entomologist Elaine A. Backus. The plant is also wired, so the circuit
is completed when the insect punctures the grapevine to get a drink.

A pattern of electrical waves, somewhat like an electrocardiogram,
is recorded as the thirsty insect sips its fill. From these charts,
Backus intends to piece together new clues about exactly when, how,
and how quickly the Xylella microbes in the insect's gut get
dislodged and shuttled into the vine.

The work may also shed light on variations in grapevines' natural resistance
to the invasive insect and the bacterium. The work may also become the
basis for a quick, reliable way to screen vines for superior resistance.

Studying Sharpshooter Biology and Ecology

No one can say for certain where sharpshooters are most likelyat
any given time of the yearto rest, feed, lay their eggs, or, perhaps
most importantly, pick up Xylella.

To fill this gap, entomologist Russell Groves is creating a detailed
picture of what he describes as "seasonal dispersal of sharpshooters
among various kinds of vegetation in the landscape." He has installed
an extensive network of traps that he monitors once a week, year-round.
The traps consist of bright-yellow cardboard coated with a sticky compound.

"Sharpshooters are attracted to the colored panel," says
Groves. "When they fly close to investigate, they can't pull free
of the sticky coating."

Groves' traps run in lines from streambanks to weedy fencerows to plants
in fields, orchards, and vineyards. "Growers will get the most
from their pest-control dollars," says Groves, "if they know
what plants are Xylella reservoirs and what plants sharpshooters
will target next."

Genes May Proffer Protection Against Pierce's Disease

Thanks to their genes, some plants are better able than others to shrug
off attack by the sharpshooter and Xylella. Genes may cue plants
to make natural compounds that repel the insect or blunt Xylella's
ability to infect.

Plant physiologist Hong Lin and University of California at Davis co-investigators
are hunting for these genes. At a research greenhouse in Davis, they've
inoculated hundreds of grapevines with X. fastidiosa. "The
plants we're using," says Lin, "are already known to be either
resistant or susceptible to X. fastidiosa infection."

The scientists remove tissue from the grapevines at regular intervals.
The sampling spans only 4 to 5 months because by then vulnerable vines
have been killed by Pierce's disease. "We're looking at the types
and amounts of gene productssuch as proteinsthese plants
form," explains Lin. "We want to see if there's any significant
antimicrobial effect in these compounds. That could lead us to the genes
that direct the plants to make the compounds."

It might then be possible to move those genes into commercial rootstocks,
he notes. A rootstock is the bottom, rooted portion of the plant to
which the upper, grape-bearing scionwood is grafted.

The search for resistance genes is greatly helped by the availability
of worldwide databases that depict the genes responsible for disease
resistance in other green plants, says Lin. Using what others have already
learned and made available about disease-resistance genes accelerates
discovery of similar genes in plants such as grapevines.

The Many Faces of Xylella

It's not just grapevines that are beleaguered by X. fastidiosa.
The microbe occurs in many forms, or strains, that sicken other plants,
including almond, peach, plum, and oleander.

So what's the best way to sort out who's who in the world of Xylella?

Why not examine their genetic material, or DNA, advises Jianchi Chen,
ARS molecular biologist. A test based on Xylella genetic material
could be ideal for determining which Xylellaif anynewly
invading sharpshooters are carrying. That "inside" information
could give growers a heads up.

Too, such a test could be used to screen imported grapevines to be
sure they're free of Xylella. Right now, plants sometimes have
to be monitored for weeks or months to be certain they're disease free.

The Parlier research weaves together different kinds of scientific
expertise to unravel the destructive interactions of an insect, a pathogen,
and a vulnerable plant. This research and that at a half-dozen other
ARS locations around the nation (see Forum,
page 2) should yield new, effective tactics to minimize the menace posed
by Xylella and the sharpshooters.By Marcia
Wood, Agricultural Research Service Information Staff.

This research is part of Crop Protection and Quarantine (#304) and
Plant Diseases (#306), two ARS National Programs described on the World
Wide Web at www.nps.ars.usda.gov.

From coast to coast, ARS scientists have pooled their expertise to
slow the spread of the glassy-winged sharpshooter and the disease-causing
Xylella fastidiosa microbes it carries.

The researchers' aggressive, timely responses to the agricultural emergency
caused by the invasion of this insect pest into southern California
vineyards earned the scientists and their federal, state, and corporate
teammates a USDA Honor Award in June 2003.

Honoree Kevin J. Hackett, an ARS National Program Leader in Beltsville,
Maryland, helped orchestrate the work of the ARS specialists on the
emergency response team.

Entomologists Thomas J. Henneberry and David H. Akey at Phoenix, Arizona,
conducted extensive studies that identified the most effective insecticides
for killing sharpshooters, including ecologically sound pyrethroids
and neonicotinoids familiar to home gardeners.

New studies in progress in these laboratories and others around the
country may reveal yet more tactics to trounce the troublesome insect
and the Xylella disease it spreads.By Marcia
Wood, Agricultural Research Service Information Staff.

"Scientists Target Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter" was
published in the September
2003 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.